Hurricane Ike

Being that Ike is heading on a course that will take it over central Fort Bend County, the majority of Houston will be east of the eye of Ike. The eastern side of a hurricane will get more rain, higher winds and the worse of the storm surge.

Areas in Houston that are prone to flooding will flood. Especially if you live near Braes or Buffalo Bayou. The close to the ship channel, the worse it will get.

Right now Ike is a category 2 storm with sustained winds at 100 mph. It will be a category 3 when it makes land fall. Thus, expect gusts nearly the 125 - 130 mp mark.

As for you dish. Take it down now if you are worried. Also, if you live south of I-10, I would be getting out of there after you secure your home. The last hurricane to hit Houston was Alicia in 1983. it was a category 1 and it did a lot of damage. You do not want to play around with a category 3.

Take it from a former Houstonian, and start heading out.

I agree with the previous post to be safe at all cost. Evacuate. As for your dish I would take it down if I were you. Gustav gave me gust of about 100-105+ and it ripped my dish almost completely off the roof. If you can,take it down.

Gustav passed by me last week and I was worried about my dish. I said screw it and I'll just get a new one if it blows away. It stood strong and I only lost signal for a few minutes because of heavy rain. Thanks to a good install and my generator my week long labor day weekend was a blast. If you can hook dish back up yourself then I would take it down. Not sure how close to storm your gonna be but I had 80mph winds on me. Good Luck.

I would mark the position of the dish on the pole and then take it down. If it's marked it should be an easy reinstall when you get back from your evacuation (the last statement is my opinion on what you should do after taking the dish down). Good luck to you. I've been through similar and it is not fun. Get out of town.

Thanks. I am going to get my boards up this evening and in the AM then take my dishes down. Don't want roof damage. Should be easy to mark the pole and make sure that everything else is still aligned.

I will be staying put. I am in North Houston, so not worried about the flooding. My wife, being a nurse, drew the straw that keeps her at the hospital for the next few days. My daughter and I will hunker down.:grin:

Good luck!

Been through several myself, and its no fun.

On topic, my superdish and my slimline went through Ivan, Katrina (both of these were very very powerful in my area), and Gustav, without so much as a hiccup. Now mine are pole mounted and cemented very very well. If I had a roof mount, and could take it down safely, I would have.

KalebD said:

Thanks. I am going to get my boards up this evening and in the AM then take my dishes down. Don't want roof damage. Should be easy to mark the pole and make sure that everything else is still aligned.

I will be staying put. I am in North Houston, so not worried about the flooding. My wife, being a nurse, drew the straw that keeps her at the hospital for the next few days. My daughter and I will hunker down.:grin:

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If you are north of 1960, you should be okay from the flooding as long as you are not near the Brazos or Trinity Rivers. They will ceratinly flood as the storm moves north through Teaxs. Also, mentioned earlier the wind is going to be your worse enemy, so the soone ryou get the dishes down the better.

As for the storm. I do not remember a recent category 3 coming this close to Houston. So, plan accordingly about staying, but also define a couple routes north-west just in case.

I wonder if DirecTV will give us a Houston news channel like they did with WDSU?

A thought for the future. Here in south Florida I had my Dish mounted to the side of the house so the dish fits under eve of the roof. This way it is out of the way of the strong winds and I dont have to worry about it blowing down.

Phil T said:

I wonder if DirecTV will give us a Houston news channel like they did with WDSU?

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yes, channel 361 KHOU

For Gustav I took the dish off but left the arm and the lnb, just 4 easy to remove bolts

Bob

thespaceghost said:

yes, channel 361 KHOU

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It's not up yet though.

Just take the four screws out that hold the dish to the bracket. The other pieces won't catch much wind. When the hurricane has passed, just reattach the reflector. That way, the settings on the bracket have not changed, and you won't need to have a technician come out to realign your dish. :icon_cool:icon_cool:icon_cool

Sandman said:

For Gustav I took the dish off but left the arm and the lnb, just 4 easy to remove bolts

Bob

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excellent idea.

I live (lived?) in Galveston County and have (had?) my dishes mounted on a pole in the backyard (pole is 3 feet down in the ground in concrete...) - removing my dishes was the last thing on my mind - the bolts were recently tightened... We'll see how everything survives.

When I get back, I'll let y'all know how they survived...

Jim

p.s., I evacuated to Dallas (parents) - took the 211, but left the 510 and the 301 (only so much room in the car) and the parents have AT&T Uverse.

Good luck to you compu. I've been in your shoes and it's not fun

God bless and watch over all those who are staying

I haven't made it back, but apparently my dishes and house are all fine - a friend stopped by my house and power is even back on. Good news, considering the eye pretty much came right over my neighborhood.

I'm glad I have a house built to the new standards - a lot of the older homes didn't make it through.

Jim

My Slimline wAs installed during Ike, we had gusts to about 70 mph, too. If it would have been roof mount I don't think the guy would have done it but 3 ft off the ground helped out s lot.
Hope all made it thru ok, this things suck.